Research progress on ambient particulate matter pollution and carcinogenesis in China

WU Jing1, SONG Xiaoming2, LIU Shuo2, WU Rongshan2, HUANG Wei2

1. National Center for Chronic and Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China;
2. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China

Abstract：In recent years the concentration of ambient air particulate matter (PM) has remained high in China; however the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified that the outdoor air pollution and the particulate matter in outdoor air pollution are carcinogenic to humans. This article summarizes the current situation of PM pollution in China and reviews the research progress on the mechanism of PM carcinogenesis and the evidences given by China's toxicologic studies and epidemiological studies on PM carcinogenicity in the past decades. The article suggests that China should urgently conduct researches to confirm the relationship between PM and cancers and that a series of actions should be taken to alleviate China's air pollution.